Thick smoke and bright flames: a fire broke out in Petropavlovsk
The press service of the North Kazakhstan Region Department of Emergency Situations confirmed the incident.
According to the agency, units from the North Kazakhstan Department of Emergency Situations are on-site working to extinguish the blaze. The situation is under control, the department added.
Social media users have also been posting videos of the fire. The footage shows thick plumes of smoke and bright flames engulfing dry brush near a highway.
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Post by PETROPAVLOVSK SKO (@nord_petro_kz)
Several hours earlier, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that two fires covering an area of 630 hectares had been extinguished in the Shet and Bukhar-Zhyrau districts of the Karaganda region. Measures are also being taken to contain three more wildfires in the mountainous steppe areas of the Shet, Bukhar-Zhyrau, and Karkaraly districts. Firefighting efforts are complicated by the difficult mountainous terrain, hot and dry weather, and strong gusty winds.
Approximately 400 personnel and 100 pieces of equipment from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, local executive bodies, forestry departments, and other services are involved in battling the wildfires in the region.
An operations center is working around the clock, maintaining constant monitoring of the fire situation. It was reported yesterday that five wildfires in the Karaganda region were extinguished over a 24-hour period, though several active hotspots remain.